Woman on the Beach
Written and directed by Hong Sang-soo
New Yorker Films
2008
Rating:


In South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo's comedy "Woman on the Beach," director Kim Joong-rae (Kim Seung-woo) convinces his production assistant Won Chang-wook (Kim Tae-woo) to go with him to Shinduri beach as he works on his overdue script. Chang-wook insists on bringing his platonic mistress Moon-sook (Ko Hyun-Joung) along, resulting in a farcical romantic triangle. Kim is immediately smitten by Moon-sook and her philosophy regarding the stars; Moon-sook fancies Kim because of the romantic films he makes. Moon-sook's admission she has slept with Western men creates a mental image Kim is unable to shake, causing Kim to suddenly abandon Moon-sook after he sleeps up with her and find another woman with whom he can recreate their fleeting romance. Kim's reconstruction is more touching than obsessive. His second-half seduction of the Moon-sook doppelganger Sun-hee (Song Sun-mi) reveals how the real messiness of love always pales in comparison to the Platonic ideal of it. "Woman on the Beach" suggests the impossibility of real romance, but it refuses to condemn its pursuit.

Posted Saturday, January 19, 2008

Link to this review:
http://filmzeus.pressbin.com/film/woman.on.the.beach